Ian McKellen
Personal Info
Known for
Acting
Gender
Male
Birthday
1939-05-25 (86 years old)
Place of Birth
Burnley, Lancashire, England, UK
Ian McKellen
Biography
Sir Ian Murray McKellen (born 25 May 1939) is an English actor. He has played roles on the screen and stage in genres ranging from Shakespearean dramas and modern theatre to popular fantasy and science fiction. He is regarded as a British cultural icon and was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1991. He has received numerous accolades, including a Tony Award, six Olivier Awards, and a Golden Globe Award, as well as nominations for two Academy Awards, five BAFTA Awards and five Emmy Awards.
McKellen made his stage debut in 1961 at the Belgrade Theatre as a member of its repertory company, and in 1965 made his first West End appearance. In 1969, he was invited to join the Prospect Theatre Company to play the lead parts in Shakespeare's Richard II and Marlowe's Edward II. In the 1970s, McKellen became a stalwart of the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre of Great Britain. He has earned five Olivier Awards for his roles in Pillars of the Community (1977), The Alchemist (1978), Bent (1979), Wild Honey (1984), and Richard III (1995). McKellen made his Broadway debut in The Promise (1965). He received the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for his role as Antonio Salieri in Amadeus (1980). He was further nominated for Ian McKellen: Acting Shakespeare (1984). He returned to Broadway in Wild Honey(1986), Dance of Death (1990), No Man's Land (2013), and Waiting for Godot (2013), the latter two being a joint production with Patrick Stewart.
McKellen achieved worldwide fame for his film roles, including the titular King in Richard III(1995), James Whale in Gods and Monsters (1998), Magneto in the X-Men films, Cogsworth in Beauty and the Beast (2017) and Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings (2001–2003) and The Hobbit (2012–2014) trilogies. Other notable film roles include A Touch of Love (1969), Plenty (1985), Six Degrees of Separation (1993), Restoration (1995), Flushed Away (2006), Mr. Holmes (2015), and The Good Liar (2019).
McKellen came out as gay in 1988, and has since championed LGBT social movements worldwide. He was awarded the Freedom of the City of London in October 2014. McKellen is a cofounder of Stonewall, an LGBT rights lobby group in the United Kingdom, named after the Stonewall riots. He is also patron of LGBT History Month, Pride London, Oxford Pride, GayGlos, LGBT Foundation and FFLAG.
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Known For
Acting
Richard II
as Richard II
Schadenfreude
as Continuity Announcer
No Man's Land
as Spooner
(2026)
Avengers: Doomsday
as Magneto
(2025)
A World War II Fairy Tale: The Making of Michael Mann's 'The Keep'
as Self (archive footage)
(2025)
(2025)
(2024)
The Critic
as Jimmy Erskine
(2024)
Hamlet
as Hamlet
(2024)
Dragfox
as Ginger Snap the Fox (Speaking) (voice)
(2024)
(2024)
(2023)
The One Note Man
as Narrator (voice)
(2022)
(2022)
Freedom: 50 Years of Pride
as Self
(2022)
Quintessentially British
as Self
(2021)
Infinitum: Subject Unknown
as Dr. Charles Marland-White
(2021)
Hating Peter Tatchell
as Self
(2020)
(2020)
(2019)
The Good Liar
as Roy Courtnay
(2019)
Cats
as Gus, the Theatre Cat
(2019)
On Broadway
as Self
(2018)
All Is True
as Earl of Southampton
(2018)
McKellen: Playing the Part
as Himself
(2018)
National Theatre Live: King Lear
as King Lear
(2017)
Beauty and the Beast
as Cogsworth
(2017)
Animal Crackers
as Horatio P. Huntington (voice)
(2017)
(2017)
The Paul O'Grady Story
as Self
(2017)
Edmund the Magnificent
as Self - Narrator (voice)
(2017)
How a Kite Flies
as Mr. Kite (voice)
(2016)
Shakespeare Live! From the RSC
as Self - Performer
(2016)
(2016)
(2016)
National Theatre Live: No Man's Land
as Spooner
(2016)
The Roof
as And Even Yet Another Fan
(2016)
(2016)
All the World's a Screen: Shakespeare on Film
as Prospero's Speech Reader (voice)
(2016)
(2015)
Mr. Holmes
as Sherlock Holmes
(2015)
The Dresser
as Norman
(2015)
Knights of Classic Drama at the BBC
as Self (archive footage)
(2014)
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
as Gandalf the Grey
(2014)
X-Men: Days of Future Past
as Magneto
(2014)
Nelson Mandela Redrawn
as Self
(2014)
Miss in Her Teens
as The Prologue
(2013)
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
as Gandalf the Grey
(2013)
The Wolverine
as Erik Lehnsherr / Magneto (uncredited)
(2013)
(2013)
Muse of Fire
as Self
(2013)
The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot
as Self
(2013)
The Egg Trick
as Magician
(2012)
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
as Gandalf the Grey
(2012)
Doctor Who: The Snowmen
as The Great Intelligence (voice)
(2012)
(2011)
The Betty Driver Story
as Self
(2011)
Looking for Lowry
as Himself
(2010)
A Lost and Found Box of Human Sensation
as Narrator (voice)
(2010)
Small-Time Revolutionary
as Hamish Miller (voice)
(2010)
(2009)
Theatreland
as Himself
(2008)
King Lear
as King Lear
(2007)
The Golden Compass
as Iorek Byrnison (voice)
(2007)
Stardust
as Narrator (voice)
(2007)
For the Love of God
as The Jackdaw
(2007)
(2006)
The Da Vinci Code
as Sir Leigh Teabing
(2006)
Flushed Away
as The Toad (voice)
(2006)
Doogal
as Zebedee (voice)
(2006)
X-Men: The Last Stand
as Erik Lehnsherr / Magneto
(2006)
Saint of 9/11
as Narrator
(2005)
Asylum
as Dr. Peter Cleave
(2005)
Neverwas
as Gabriel Finch
(2005)
Ringers: Lord of the Fans
as Self
(2005)
Eighteen
as Jason Anders (voice)
(2005)
The Hobart Shakespeareans
as Himself
(2004)
The Magic Roundabout
as Zebedee (voice)
(2004)
(2004)
(2004)
(2004)
(2003)
(2003)
(2003)
(2003)
Émile
as Emile
(2003)
(2003)
X2
as Eric Lehnsherr / Magneto
(2003)
(2003)
(2003)
(2003)
(2002)
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
as Gandalf
(2001)
(2001)
(2001)
(2001)
Quest for the Ring
as Self
(2001)
Larry & Vivien: The Oliviers in Love
as Narrator (voice)
(2000)
X-Men: The Mutant Watch
as Self - 'Magneto'
(2000)
X-Men
as Magneto
(2000)
Cirque du Soleil: Journey of Man
as Narrator (voice)
(2000)
(1999)
(1999)
After Stonewall
as Self
(1998)
Apt Pupil
as Kurt Dussander
(1998)
Gods and Monsters
as James Whale
(1998)
Swept from the Sea
as Dr. James Kennedy
(1997)
Bent
as Uncle Freddie
(1997)
(1997)
A Bit Of Scarlet
as Narrator
(1996)
Rasputin
as Tsar Nicholas II
(1996)
An Evening with Lily Savage
as Self
(1995)
Restoration
as Will Gates
(1995)
Richard III
as Richard III
(1995)
Cold Comfort Farm
as Amos Starkadder
(1995)
Jack & Sarah
as William
(1994)
The Shadow
as Dr. Reinhardt Lane
(1994)
I'll Do Anything
as John Earl McAlpine
(1994)
To Die For
as Quilt Documentary Narrator (voice)
(1994)
(1994)
David Macaulay: Roman City
as Augustus Caesar (voice)
(1993)
Last Action Hero
as Death
(1993)
Six Degrees of Separation
as Geoffrey
(1993)
And the Band Played On
as Bill Kraus
(1993)
The Ballad of Little Jo
as Percy Corcoran
(1993)
(1993)
Armistead Maupin Is a Man I Dreamt Up
as Narration (voice)
(1992)
Gladio
as Aldo Moro (voice)
(1990)
Othello
as Iago
(1989)
Scandal
as John Profumo
(1989)
Countdown to War
as Adolf Hitler
(1988)
(1987)
Süleyman the Magnificent
as Narrator
(1985)
Plenty
as Sir Andrew Charleson
(1985)
Zina
as Kronfeld
(1983)
The Keep
as Dr. Theodore Cuza
(1983)
Walter and June
as Walter
(1982)
The Scarlet Pimpernel
as Chauvelin
(1982)
Walter
as Walter
(1982)
(1981)
Priest of Love
as D.H. Lawrence
(1980)
Dying Day
as Antony Skipling
(1979)
Macbeth
as Macbeth
(1979)
Every Good Boy Deserves Favour
as Alexander Ivanov
(1974)
Graceless Go I
as Tony
(1972)
Hedda Gabler
as George Tesman
(1970)
The Tragedy of King Richard II
as King Richard II
(1970)
Edward II
as King Edward
(1970)
Hamlet
as Hamlet
(1969)
A Touch of Love
as George
(1969)
Alfred the Great
as Roger
(1969)
(1965)
Crew
(2019)
The Isle
Associate Producer
(1995)
Richard III
Executive Producer, Screenplay